The daily search for a great bottle of wine. Or at least an affordable one!

2005 SILVER RIDGE PINOT NOIR

Friday, 2/23, Little Rock, AR

Today's
reviewed wine is from the "ghost" winery as far as I can tell. What do I
mean by ghost? Google Silver Ridge anything and you won't come up with a
website for them. I never go to a vineyards website until after I've
tried their wine and made up my own mind as to what I think about it,
but I do like to see how they describe their own wine. I wasn't able to
do that with this one as they seem to be keeping a low profile. If you
know anything interesting about this vineyard let me know as I've
reviewed two of their wines now and would like to see their full
offering.

To be totally honest on this one I've got to tell
you that I only paid $9.56 for this bottle and as you know from my
previous reviews, I don't think good, and I mean real good, Pinot Noirs
are available at less than $16-20/bottle and that's just a starting
point. This 2005 Silver Ridge Pinot Noir was no exception. Very light,
somewhat ruby color in the glass, not a whole lot of distinguishable
nose to it and very light-bodied in the mouth. The thing I did notice
with the nose and the taste was a very strong earthiness. I think the
French call it terroir
and this wine, for its lack of anything other than that, seems to
exemplify terroir. It just smells and tastes very earthy! Very little
tannin noticed and really not a whole lot to recommend this wine other
than it is an inexpensive way to have a little, however little, taste of
Pinot Noir. I gave this 3 corkscrews because I would drink it again and
it is at the lowest end price point that I think you can find drinkable
Pinot Noir. Pick this one up for a Tuesday, hanging out watching
something on T.V., just gotta have a drink of Pinot Noir, kind of night.

On the retail wine planning I noticed an article in the Wall
Street Journal, ( see snippet following post), regarding wine futures
and how individuals with money to burn are investing in futures as an
alternative investment. I'm doing further research into this and plan on
offering wine futures when I open my store. I haven't noticed any of
the wine/liquor stores offering that in Little Rock and quite honestly
would be surprised if any did! As I've written before, all are
combination wine/liquor/beer stores and therein lies the problem. Sit
Long, Talk Much, Laugh Often, Drink Wine!Wall Street Journal 2/23-2/24

"Wine is trying to mature -- as an investment.Amid
booming interest in alternative investments ranging from art to
collectible coins, wine-focused investment products are starting to
appear. Their goal: cash in on soaring interest among consumers and
collectors, not to mention prices that are barreling ahead for fancy
vintages.One of the latest entrants, the London-based Fine Wine
Fund, launched in August, is structured almost like a hedge fund -- the
highflying, lightly regulated investment pools catering to wealthy
investors. It charges a 2% annual management fee and keeps 15% of the
profit as a performance fee."

3 comments:

Like your blog, good reviews! I've noticed that you review a lot of
Pinot Noirs. That is my favorite grape as well. I have reviewed quite a
few of them at my blog www.tastesoflife.blogspot.comCheck it out.Cheers!

I also have been looking for the Silver Ridge winery for their Merlot
2005 or 2006. The best I have found is that Silver Ridge Winery may be
owned by Bronco Wine Company in Ceres, CA. Does anyone know if this is
true?